


sunrise

by mayamattews (lydiastxles)



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: AU, Camping AU, F/M, Riarkle, Side Riarkle, girl meets world - Freeform, gmw, joshaya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 09:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8199352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiastxles/pseuds/mayamattews
Summary: Disclaimer: This is my first time writing for Joshaya or GMW in general. The pairing is Joshaya and side Riarkle and they’re all in college. Also, I’ve never camped in my life, so if there’s something wrong, I did my best to picture how camping would be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is my first time writing for Joshaya or GMW in general. The pairing is Joshaya and side Riarkle and they’re all in college. Also, I’ve never camped in my life, so if there’s something wrong, I did my best to picture how camping would be.

“Why are you staring at me so pretty?” Josh asked looking briefly to Maya who was on the passenger seat.

“Because I’m deciding if I’m murdering you now or when I’m perfectly awake to do so.”

“Not a morning person, huh?” He smiled and grabbed her hand. “Remember that you were the one that wanted to come.”

Maya glared at her boyfriend. She remembered how she got in that situation and it wasn’t her suggestion at all to come to the middle of the woods to go camping for a couple of days.

A week ago, Josh and Farkle were hanging out on the girl’s dorm for movie night. They ended up watching some camping themed movie, which made Josh and Riley miss their annual Matthews Family Camping trip to the woods, where they’d camp for an entire week. When Maya and Farkle told them that they’d never camped before, Riley got so outraged that she decided that the four of them were going to go camping.

Even though Farkle loved the idea of becoming an adventurous explorer, Maya was not so happy about it. She was a city girl, she hated being the nature. When they went to the Ski Lodge on their freshman year of high school, Maya was cool about it, since it was a well-placed and they stayed inside a house, not in the middle of nowhere sleeping in tents on the ground. However, seeing how Josh had gotten sad by not going on a so dreamed trip, the blonde girl changed her mind and told him it’d be a great adventure. Liar.

“I don’t understand why we need to leave at 4:30 in the morning to go to the middle of nowhere.” She closed her eyes, pushing up her blanket. “I mean, it’ll be there at 10, you know?”

“I told you, it’s camping season. Every good spot is going to be taken and I’m avoiding having you complaining when we get a spot near the stinky lake.” He looked at her and smiled. “I promise you’ll love it.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

* * *

 

After a few hours driving, the four of them arrived to the hiking trail. The sun was already shining brightly and it was becoming warmer. Maya had to admit, the place was beautiful. She still didn’t get it why would people go camping for fun, but at least the view was amazing. She looked at Josh, who was talking to Riley, and went in their direction. As soon as she approached, they stopped talking.

“What?”

“So, Peaches…” Riley began talking with a sweet smile. “We’ve been hiding something from you.”

“What could possibly be worse than having to sleep on the ground for two days?”

“Having to walk two miles with all our stuff until we get to the place we’re going to camp?” Riley answered with an apologetic look. Maya glared at Josh.

“What?”

“C’mon, it’s fun! Farkle is already exploring.” Josh pointed to Farkle, who was way ahead of them, looking at some plants.

“You’ll love the view, Peaches. It’s all so beautiful, full of butterflies, flowers, trees, birds singing… And when we get there you won’t even remember any of that!” She guaranteed.

* * *

 

Riley was incredibly wrong. Everything that could go wrong happened. Since they were already used to it, Riley and Josh had no incidents while walking to their spot. They knew exactly where they were stepping into, but, unfortunately, Farkle and Maya did not. It went a little better to Farkle, since he observed more not only what Riley was doing but if something was on their way. Maya, however distracted by the beauty and the bugs of the place, just followed them reckless. Not noticing where she was stepping, the blonde girl stepped to little ponds over four times, getting not only her boot wet, but also parts of her pants. She also slipped a couple of times when she stepped into mug and found out that mosquitoes had a special thing with her skin, not mentioning the bugs and leaves that got stuck in her hair.

By the time they got to the place where they’d be staying, Maya looked like she went to war and came back. Sure, everyone was a little dirty and even Farkle had a few mosquitoes bites, but Maya’s situation was so ridiculous that when Josh looked at his girlfriend, he barely recognized her. She was so dirty that she could fit easily on the forest without being noticed.

“What the hell did you do?” Josh asked putting his backpack on the floor and walking on her direction. “What happened?”

“What the hell did I do?” She repeated. “This is your entire fault!” Maya put her backpack on the floor and sat on a rock near. “Nature, Josh. That’s what happened to me. Your beautiful nature did this to me.” He slowly leaned in her direction and gave a quick peck on her cheeks, making her smile involuntary. That was his move to make her not being mad at him.

“I’m sorry, Maya. I didn’t saw you struggling back there.” She nodded, understanding. They walked a straight line since the path wasn’t that wide that’d fit the four of them walking side by side, so Josh, who knew how to get there was the first in line and Maya, that walked slower, was the last one. “But hey, look. Isn’t this place beautiful?”

She’d got to admit it. The place was marvelous. It was a big space, perfect for camping with a few trees surrounding it and a beautiful pond near them with the most crystal water she’d ever seen. Riley was right. She could see some birds on the tree, singing and a few butterflies flying around some flowers. She felt like she was in paradise.

“It is. But it’d be more beautiful when I get in the shower. Where is it?”

“Uh…” He avoided answering the question, glaring at Riley. Maya looked at her friend, worried.

“Honey?” The brunette smiled at her and grabbed her hand, pulling her in the lake direction. “You’re kidding, right?” She asked while her face dropped. Riley, after a moment of suspense, smiled and pointed to a cabin a few feet from them.

“Yeah, you can shower there, Peaches. It’s clean and the water is a little cold, but you get used to it. Just be sure there’s no one there before you enter.”

“Thanks, Riles.” She walked to the cabin Riley had pointed out to take her shower. After she finished, Maya went back to where the others were and saw that Josh and Farkle were finishing setting up the last tend while Riley read the instructions. “So, is that it? Camping? Putting tends up, making a fire, marshmallows… We’re going to do this for two days then?” Maya asked while handing the boys the last few pieces of the tent.

“Well, I’ve done some research on what we can do while we’re camping and according to the internet, we can swim in the lake, if he’s not contaminated, we can fish, explore the nature…” Farkle said excitedly. “I bet if we look correctly, we can find rare insects under some rocks near the lake.”

“You can also draw. You said you thought the place was beautiful.” Riley said. She looked at Farkle. “And instead of insects, we can look for butterflies, how about that?”

“Yeah! I bet there’s this specific species is around here. I saw that they like this kind of ambient.” He said already walking towards the same place they’d arrived, grabbing Riley’s hand excitedly.

Maya smiled and looked at Josh. He was doing the same thing, smiling at her. She could see that he was really happy about being there. Josh pushed her closer to him, with his arms around her waist.

“Hi”

“Hi” Josh put a lock of hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek. He slowly got closer to her, resting his forehead in hers with both breathing shortly. Her nose gently touched his and Maya closed her eyes, just tasting that feeling. She loved those moments. The feeling she got whenever he was this close to her and about to kiss her, was one of her favorite things. She ended up closing the gap between them with a slow kiss.

“What do you want to do now?” Maya asked after they’d pulled away. “Swim? Go fishing? I bet you want to look for bugs under rocks.”

“You know me too well Miss Hart.” He grinned. “But unfortunately, I drove three hours and walked half an hour to get here, so I decided to grab this chair,” he picked a folding chair and Sat on it. “And sit a little bit. You’re more than welcome to join me.”

“I’d love to, but I’m not an old lady like you, so I think I’ll be drawing something”

Maya spent the next couple of hours focusing on her drawing. She decided to draw the lake and the view after it, reflecting in the water. She was enjoying it the silence that the city couldn’t give her. Josh had fallen asleep after a few minutes. Riley and Farkle came back an hour later, with their lips a little swollen and with a lot of pictures of plants and insects they found in the way.

It was almost six o'clock when Maya finished her drawing. The sun was already setting and it was starting to get dark. Riley decided to wake up her uncle so he could take a shower, since Riley would rather not have anyone walking over there when it was completely dark.

“What do you think so far of camping and nature?” She asked Maya after sitting next to her.

“Well is not as bad as I thought I’d be.” Maya smiled putting her notebook back on her backpack. “However, I have to complain about the mosquitos. They’ve seen to find that my blood tastes way better than you three.”

“Perhaps if you had used that repellent we all have on, this wouldn’t happen.”

“What repellent?”

“The one I lend you before we left our dorm?”

“Oh… I thought it was a normal moisturizer and I didn’t like the smell so I put one of mine.” She rested her head on Riley’s shoulder. “So how was your make out session with Farkle?”

“Was it that obvious?” Her cheeks were red.

“You two had swollen lips and Farkle look way more happy that he should’ve been for someone looking for bugs.”

“I’m glad about that then.”

“So… you’re going to sleep in the same tent as him then?” Maya looked at her friend. “You know it’s okay if you want to sleep with me instead. We’ll have a slumber party.”

“To be honest, I think I’m okay with it.” Riley grabbed Maya’s hand fondly. “It’s not as if this hadn’t happen before. I mean nothing happened!” She reassured her friend that looked alarmed. “We were watching a movie and we fell asleep in my bed.”

“Where was I? And why am I only hearing about this now?”

“It was last month. You were drinking with Zay, remember? I guess you slept over his place.” She remembered. She had gone in a bar with Zay to commemorate one of their friends birthday party. Riley had stayed in so she could finish studying for a test the next day.

“Okay then. But if you change your mind, you can just throw Uncle Boing out and sleep here.”

“Thanks Peaches”

* * *

 

After everybody had gone shower, they started to build a fire. It was kind of a challenge to it once Maya found out that sticks weren’t that common and most of them were moist, since they were set up next to a pond. When they finally gathered enough wood to build a fire, it was almost completely dark. Since it was getting colder, they a all sat around it with a blanket around their back.

When everybody got hungry, another problem came up. Since Maya was the one in charge of the food, she pretty much understood that her job was to get the campfire food, which is why the only thing she got out of her bag was a family size bag of marshmallow.

“I can’t believe our dinner is candy!” Farkle exclaimed after finish his third one.

“Well, whose fault is that?” She asked while putting one in the stick and putting closer to the fire. “You made me in charge of bringing food. What is present in every single camping movie? Marshmallows. What else do the campers eat? The fish they got in the lake. I thought that part was covered.”

“She’s not wrong. Her only expectation on camping was the clichés she saw.” Riley said eating hers. “Plus, Farkle should’ve gotten something. You’re the best cook here.”

“I was in charge of water and the survival kit. Plus, you were the one that distributed the tasks.” Farkle defended himself.

“Excuse me, but your grandmother, Amy Matthews, would say that the best cook around here is me, thank you very much.” Josh looked at Maya for confirmation. She just looked at Riley and they both laughed.

 

“Did Matthews call anyone the whole day?” Maya asked after a while. They had already finished the bag of marshmallows and were sleepily talking nonsense and watching the stars. “I’m finding very weird not hearing a word from him the whole day.” She looked to Josh. “Does he even know we’re here?”

“He knows. He also knows that everybody is bringing their own tent and sleeping there, got it?”

“Riley, however, chose Farkle’s chest instead of sleeping in her tent.” Maya smiled looking at her sleepy friend. Farkle picked his girlfriend, wished the last two good night and went to sleep along Riley. The couple stayed silent for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s company. “I wish we could see more stars in the city.” Maya mumbled, staring at the sky. “It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s my favorite part of being here, you know?” Josh rested his chin on Maya’s head, gently. “I like that here’s so peaceful and so beautiful. It’s the perfect place.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” As she was looking at him, a smiled spread on her lips. “The mosquito, the mud and no wi-fi makes this far from perfect. Plus, I don’t want to be bear food.” Maya held his hand. “Thank you for bringing me here, though.”

Before Josh could answer, his phone started ringing. Seeing it was Cory, Maya stood up and kissed his cheek, going to the tent to give him some privacy. She quickly changed her clothes to her pajamas – which was pretty much clothes she stole from Josh a while ago – and grabbed her phone to text her mom she was fine and alive.

After a while, Josh came in, but stopped to look at Maya. He’d never seen her wearing a compete set of his clothes – with the exception of an old social shirt that she used when she was painting and some sweaters when she visited his apartment – and he thought she looked absolutely stunning. When she noticed he was standing there, Maya put her phone aside and smiled.

“What?”

“These are my clothes” He pointed.

“I know that”

“Not any clothes. My clothes. The one I’ve been looking for three months.” He sat next to her. “The one I told you I was looking for.”

“I also know that.” She got closer to him. “What’s your point?”

“You should steal my clothes more often.” Josh said before kissing her.

She smiled into the kiss, putting a hand on his cheek while kissing him back. His hands were on her hips, bringing her closer to him. After a while, Maya broke the kiss and looked at him, with her noses still touching. They lied down and she snugged up on him, while he covered the both of them.

“Is Riley okay sleeping in the tent with Dr. Turtleneck?” Josh asked after a while.

“Yeah, I talked to her earlier, everything’s okay.” Maya mumbled with her eyes closed. Josh smiled and continued to pass his hands in her hair, slowly. “I also told her she can kick you out of the tent and sleep over.”

“Gee, Maya. Thank you.” He stopped stroking her hair. “Best girlfriend ever.”

“You’re a very lucky guy. Now, don’t stop playing with my hair.” Josh rolled his eyes and continued, giving a kiss on her forehead.

* * *

 

The next day, Maya and Josh decided that it was their turn to explore the place. Even though Josh went there every year, the only person who was willing to explore with him was Auggie, but since he was too little, they didn’t make it that far. However, with Maya there and with her sudden will to look for adventure, he was hoping they could see more things and maybe find somewhere new.

“You know, it’s a lot easier to walk here than in the path we were yesterday.”

“You mean, it’s easier because you’re dressed properly and wearing the repellent for the mosquitos?” He grinned. “Or it’s just because you’re actually paying attention where you’re stepping into so you don’t fall as much?”

“Oh, shut up.” Maya rolled her eyes, but still smiling. “You can’t blame me for being the cliché of campers. It’s not that I refused to come here when I was little.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that.” Josh held her hand, helping her pass a small place. “Why didn’t you come with us whenever we went camping? I mean, you tag along to every family vacation since you were eight.”

“Well, no one actually invited me to come camping and I never really showed that much of an interest on it, anyways.” She stopped, sitting on a rock and grabbing her bottle of water. “Plus, it’s a Matthews’s family trip. It’s the only time of the year, besides Christmas, you guys get everybody together. Even Feeny goes to this thing. I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of this.”

“You wouldn’t be” He sat next to her, watching her drink. “Maybe they didn’t invite you so you could stay with your mom. Like I said, you tag along on every family vacation.”

“Yeah… My mom always had vacations the same time they were away…” She laughed. “I remember once that I asked her why I couldn’t come. She said it was because she didn’t think it was a good idea to be that close to bears.”

Josh laughed, as they continued to walk.

“So that’s where you got the idea of being eaten by bears?”

“And every camping movie where there’s a bear.”

“Name one.”

“ _Backcountry_ and it’s based on a true story, so don’t even mock it.”

They continued to walk for almost half an hour, still talking about bears and movies. Maya was actually enjoying the trip and, to be honest, loved that exploring thing they were doing. Not that she expected to find something really, but it was fun to pretend they knew what they were doing. She was so distracted looking around that she didn’t see when Josh stopped, so she bumped into him.

“Distracted, are we?” He played. Maya rolled her eyes. “I guess we found something, after all.”

He stepped to the right and allowed Maya to look at what he found. She couldn’t believe. They had found a waterfall.

“Did you know where we were going?” She asked him, putting her backpack down and looking amazed by the view.

“No, I never went this far.” Josh did the same thing. “I didn’t even know that there was one around here.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” She took off her shirt, pants and boots with a grin in her face. Josh blinked looking at her in her underwear. Without any hesitation, she plunged into the water, leaving him perplexed. When she rose to the surface, Maya send him a grin and lift an eyebrow. “C’mon Boing. The water is great.”

“You’re insane, little ferret.”

“You’re not going to leave me here alone, are you?”

“I would never do that.” He took off all his clothes, being only on his underwear and jumped after her. “It’s freezing!”

“Well, let me warm you then.” She came closer and hugged his waist, leaving a small kiss on his lips.

“You made a huge mistake, Hart.” Josh said before pulling her down the water with him, laughing.

They stayed there for most part of the afternoon, mostly swimming and talking about everything, getting back to Riley and Farkle before it was dark. When the evening came, Maya was glad to see that her best friends had figured it out a way to get food, thus having fish for dinner that night.

* * *

 

“Maya… Maya…” Josh called his girlfriend gently, poking her arm. She moved slightly to the other side, still sleeping. He sighted, trying again but with no response. After a few minutes, he just got closer to her and put a gentle kiss on her lips, making her waking up instantly. Maya looked a little confused, but alarmed.

“What? What happened? Is it a bear? I’ll kill you if there’s a bear around here.” She mumbled sitting down. “Riley. Where’s Riley?”

“She’s sleeping and no, there’s no bear.” Everything was so dark that it took some time for her eyes to adjust to it. When Josh’s face became clear, she lifted her eyebrows. “Everything’s okay.”

“It’s dark. What time is it?”

“Five forty-nine am.”

“Why am I awake at this time?” She asked lying again. “There’s no sun. No activity can be done without the sun. Goodnight.”

“That’s the point.” He pulled Maya for her to sit again, receiving a long groan in response. “C’mon, let’s go outside.”

“Are you insane? It’s probably freezing outside and the bears are out there waiting to kill us and I’m cool about being alive, thank you very much.”

Josh rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face and grabbed the blanked and leaving the tent. Maya sighted and left behind him. As soon as she stepped out, Josh put the blanket on her back and pulled her to the lakeshore.

“What are we doing here?”

“Since you slept all the way here, I thought I’d wake you up to see something.” He passed his arms around her waist and rest his chin on the top of her head. “Look”

Maya looked at the pond, confused. It was dark; there was nothing to be seen. But when she opened her mouth to say so, she saw it. In the horizon, there was a little light starting to light up the sky.

Slowly, the light became bigger and an amazing shade of orange dominated the sky, lighting gradually. That bright color reflected on the water of the pond and made that beautiful scenery breathtaking. Maya’s eyes glittered before that spectacle of nature and she made sure to keep every moment in her mind, intending to paint it soon.

She looked at Josh, who was with a small smile on his face, happy to share that moment with her, and without the least thought, Maya couldn’t managed to control over what she was feeling.

“I love you, Josh”

There was no reaction. Josh stood, looking at his girlfriend not believing what he had just heard. She loved him.

He knew Maya loved him, but in the year and a half they were together, she had not said even once - and not him. They both knew how they felt for each other, but it was never verbalized action for different reasons.

Josh, much as always biting his tongue to avoid saying those three words, did not want to be the first to express the feeling. The major reason was the same for Maya have not said before. He knew how she felt when the issue was relationships, because the story of his parents and felt that it should be completely sure before you say it to someone.

When he realized he had not said anything to the blonde in front of him, which seemed to reconsider the whole situation, Josh hugged her tightly, closing the space between them.

“I love you, Maya.”


End file.
